Murder Takes the Cake

by Brad Crowther

Overview

When a celebrity chef judging a Charleston cake-baking contest is strangled, blue-blooded detective Edna Dugué and her streetwise assistant, Jerrelle Vesey, assist the primary suspect, who's not cooperating. Observed crouching over the victim's body and vilified for being the son of illegal immigrants, he's panicked and disappeared. Other suspects are plentiful. The chef, a board member at the company sponsoring the cake contest, was battling for control of the contest with a company vice president, and she'd reportedly had an affair with the CEO that turned ugly. In addition, she'd infuriated the daughter and granddaughter of the company's founder by lobbying the board to accept a takeover bid. Another with a murder motive is the chef's replacement as cake-baking judge, a rival bitter about not being selected as judge when the contest began. There's also the chef's ex-husband, apoplectic about terms of their divorce, who benefits from her death. As Edna and Jerrelle probe, they uncover a connection between the chef's death and an old murder long considered solved. There's reason to believe the chef knew the identity of the real killer and attempted blackmail.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684921232
Publisher:	Camel Press
Publication date:	11/14/2023
Series:	Edna/Jerrelle Charleston Mysteries , #1
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Brad Crowther grew up in Ohio, Pennsylvania, California, and Kentucky. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Louisville, then spent four years in the U.S. Coast Guard, stationed in Alameda, California; Naples, Italy; and Governor's Island, New York. Following discharge from the Coast Guard, he obtained a master's degree from the University of Rhode Island and went to work for the Rhode Island State Criminal Justice Planning agency, eventually becoming Executive Director, a governor-appointed position. He left state government to start a consulting business, providing services to government agencies, school districts, and non-profit organizations. He relocated from Rhode Island to the Charleston, South Carolina area and is now mostly retired. He has one previously published novel, The Ninth Man, and he is a past winner of the Black Orchid Novella Award, a mystery writing contest co-sponsored by the Wolfe Pack and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. He is married, and his son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren live nearby.